Cousins, who was supported by his mother in court, told the magistrate he was seeking treatment for his drug problem.

"I am doing things about it...I can honestly say I am in a better place than I have been for sometime," he said.

Ben Cousins leaves Armadale court recently.

Photo: Heather McNeill

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"I firmly believe that I am on the right path to overcome this.

"I know it's been an ongoing problem, I've been battling this for years... I am getting treatment."

The magistrate, during his sentencing remarks, warned Cousins if he breached his violence restraining order again, he could face a mandatory jail term.

"Your record will fast catch up with you - that would be the greatest fall from grace of all time," he said.

Cousins avoided a jail term.

Photo: Heather McNeill

Police prosecutors asked Cousins be sentenced to a suspended term of imprisonment and be placed on a community order to make him accountable to the court for his drug rehabilitation.

The magistrate, however, decided to go with the less serious penalty of fines, taking into account the 38-year-old's recent efforts to seek help by engaging a private psychiatrist.

Ben Cousins leaving Armadale Magistrates Court in October 2016 after being held by police overnight.

Photo: Emma Young

"The course you are going down is sufficient, to ask you to do more is setting you up to fail," he told Cousins.

The magistrate also noted Cousin's two breaches of a VRO, taken out by his former partner, Maylea Tinecheff, related to his desire to see his two young children.

"You are no use to your children if you are completely wrecked because of drug issues," the magistrate said, adding he faced a "premature death" if he continued down this path.

The court was told Cousins had arrived at his ex partner's home twice on October 17, once at 7.45am and again at 11.45am, in an effort to see his children, before he was arrested and charged with the breach of a VRO offences.

"[At 7.45am] Cousins was greeted by [Ms Tinecheff's] father, asked to leave and then shouted for the children," the police prosecutor said.

"With the children visibly upset... the victim told the accused he could have ten minutes with them."

Four hours later, he returned to the Canning Vale house and knocked on the front window, calling for the children.

Ms Tinecheff and Cousins argued outside, which again upset the children, and the police were called.

Cousins' lawyer Michael Tudori claimed Ms Tinecheff "uses the restraining order to control the way Cousins gets to see his children".

The pair have no formal custody arrangements, with an informal agreement allowing Cousins to see his children, aged three and five, when the visit is facilitated and attended by his father, Bryan Cousins.

Mr Tudori said the "on-again, off-again" relationship between Cousins and Ms Tinecheff meant he had at one point lived at her house, and paid rent, despite the VRO still being in place.

"These [VRO] breaches are all about him trying to see his children...he now knows that he just can't, in his own words, swan in and swan out of the complainant's house," he said.

Cousins agreed with the magistrate that he needed to formalise the custody arrangements to see his children with his former partner through the Family Court.

"I am well aware now of the severity of breaking the order... I don't take the issue lightly moving forward," he said.

Cousins pleaded not guilty to two remaining charges he faces - one for breaching bail and another for allegedly possessing methamphetamine in Fremantle in June.

The breach of bail relates to when Cousins failed to appear in court in November. He claimed police prosecutors were supplied a medical certificate on the day but police argue the certificate said his health was "normal".

At one stage he was banned for a year from football while contracted to the Eagles and had several run-ins with police after Richmond threw him a lifeline in 2009.

The 2005 Brownlow medallist was spared jail last year for a bizarre episode in which he trespassed at a Sikh temple in Canning Vale.

In the subsequent court case, a lawyer for Cousins said his client had been mentally ill at the time of incident, had been hospitalised rather than locked up and had taken a fencing job in Collie.

When former Eagles teammate Chris Judd launched his autobiography Inside last October, he said Cousins seemed to be "doing well" when they caught up recently.

Even West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett, on the eve of the club's 10-year premiership celebrations, touched on the Brownlow medallist's battle, saying he would forgo that 2006 success in exchange for the good mental health of Cousins and other troubled ex-Eagles from that side.

Cousins' on-field career garnered just about every honour imaginable, including six All-Australian jumpers and his 2005 Brownlow triumph.

But there was just as much drama off it, with West Coast forced to take the captaincy of its favourite son after he famously avoided a booze bus by jumping into the Canning River.

He was eventually sacked by the club in 2007 after several failed stints in rehab and finished his career after two seasons at Richmond in 2009 and 2010, for a total of 270 career AFL games.